In The Record:
Troy’s unemployment rate remains higher than the national average, and many residents are not seeing access to great job opportunities. Rather than address the problem, the legislature is currently considering a prevailing wage expansion that has the potential to exacerbate the situation and further hurt the city’s working families.
If passed, the prevailing wage expansion would require any projects receiving public funds to pay union wages. What this means in practical terms is that private developers will be forced to lay off workers and shrink the pool of already-limited jobs here.
The ramifications for local workers are two-fold. Beyond losing access to well-paying construction jobs and the benefits that come along with them, a prevailing wage expansion would also limit local, middle-class families’ access to affordable housing.
Ultimately, expanding prevailing wage requirements would only serve to hike construction costs, reduce job opportunities and hurt workers.
The Construction Workforce Project (CWP) – a nonprofit dedicated to advocating on behalf of workers of color in New York’s construction industry.
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